School Work

Olivia brought home her first offical "homework" yesterday. I wasn't all that impressed. Her words this week were much harder. Thank heavens! But from what I understand, the teacher allows each student to pick their words out of a selection of 20. So Olivia's words this week (and I am pretty proud of her for picking harder words) are Alaska, Assignment, splashing, than to name just a few. And guess what, not only did my daughter score a 100 on the pretest, but a 100 on the home test she had to take with me last night. Way to go OLIVIA!! So impressed.

However, I am not impressed with the work she has to do with these words. All I can say is its a waste of her time. Busy work in my mind. So instead of picking 4 out of the 9 choices on her "Buddy Activities" I am making her do all 9 of them every week. Its easy work. Word pyramids, circling letters in different colored crayons to represent either a vowel or constant. Come on, really?! This is stuff that would really benefit Emma-James, but way beyond what Olivia is truly capable of doing. Of course she isn't too keen on doing all this "extra" work. But really, if homework is only for 15 minutes a day, and she did 10x more then that while she was home. Two assignments a night wont kill her.

She has yet to be tested in her reading skills. Just wait. When they do they will be super impressed. The girl amazes even me. She is starting to pick up reading my "Baby-Sitters Club" series and only missed one word in the first chapter. Heroine (as in "my mother is a true heroine." Tough word even for me. So I was impressed. Right now she is practicing reading people in quotes and learning fluency, but for the most part, she is really good at it, and really loves to read.

Math is a different story. They don't bring homework home at all unless its a "need to" basis. So I haven't a clue what they are doing, or even how Olivia is doing day to day. For now, I am supplementing her with other Math work and keeping an eye on her with what she is doing in school now. This gives me an idea of how well she is understanding the material in school as well.

Anyways, that is my gripe for the day. At least I was able to talk to my Pediatrician about my concerns (which are hers as well) and we are going to wait until the first report card comes out and hopefully see if we can move her up to the 3rd grade. I rather her go now vs. waiting until January or even worse, skipping next year to the fourth grade. Gosh I hope we can get some answers, and SOON!